dravengodvamp and velvetacidgrrrl came down to see me, and we had a good time, especially as it was the first time D and I got to meet in person, though we've known each other for a long time online. They hung out for a little while, then went down to see dyvinedeviance, then came back later for food and movies...hey, an impromptu 'bad movie night' was a moral imperative. After much viewing and copious scarfing of my infamous Rotel Dip, we all managed to crash out, to continue the festivities today. Most of the time was actually spent discussing the differences between the South and the Pacific Northwest (Draven is a brand new Texas transplant). Being the Southern BoyTM that I am (and Chamblin and Di being native to the PNW), I was able to not only sympathize, but to fill in the gaps, and we had a good time just 'being'.You ever know someone, and within a short period of time, you just 'click'? Something about similarities and complimentary traits, you may not even necessarily be able to say why, but you just know that it's a good thing you met and are friends? That's the way Doug struck me. A lot of it, I know, is simply an attitude situation. We are a lot alike, a cultural thing. We have similar attitudes on how things are, and how they should be, and what the 'right' thing to do is and why...it's the upbringing that the rest of the country knows as 'Southern Gentleman'. It's something that is misunderstood a lot of places, and is virtually unknown up here. I knew I missed having anyone else around that was the same way, but I don't think I knew just how much until it was there again. The last two days have been like sitting around with an old friend...and THAT has been what I miss most of all, after moving out here. To put it simply, I look forward to a long friendship with him.
I couldn't get their camera to download to my machine, so I'll be looking out for the pix they post, but we managed to get a few of our own:
Chamblin and Di sitting on the bed
Chamblin and Doug
Doug and Chamblin (rolling her eyes because we told her to smile)
Chamblin, Doug, and Me (I hate how sensitive my eyes are to light, sometimes...it's hard to get a good pic of me without my eyes blinking)
Doug and I, looking like the huge towering guys that we are
Actually, the last shot had a double purpose. By the end of this weekend, we have become known as 'Southern Boys Incorporated', and I swore I'd do this graphic of us, which I resized from the original (much bigger). I love the way it turned out.
I was sorry to see them go, but we are planning our next trip up to Seattle next weekend, so we'll see them again...and hopefully, we'll make seeing them something done as much as possible.
Later, after they'd left, we went up to Di's parent's place, which ended up continuing the Southern feel of my weekend, as her Mom cooked turkey and gravy, rolls, rice, corn, sweet potatoes...man, talk about eating like a king. Her Mom rocks, 'nuff said. But I knew that after I finished eating, I'd be attempting to finally get her camera to work. She dug out an old Olympus digital camera that we've been trying to make work again for weeks. After an hour of fooling around, downloading drivers and patches, and hooking up and old USB-to-Serial adapter that I had laying around unused, I did finally get the camera to download it's pix to PhotoShop, so that felt good.
Well, that was my weekend...hope yours was as good if not better.